Czech president calls for extradition of wanted hacker to Russia instead of US

Pro-Russian Czech president Milos Zeman called for the extradition of Russian hacker Jevgenij Nikulin to Russia instead of the US during two meetings with Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan for that purpose, Czech weekly Respekt reported. Nikulin, who was arrested by Czech police in October 2016 is wanted by the US for hacking computer networks of several US companies.

Nikulin was supposed to hack computer networks of companies such as LinkedIn or Dropbox. He is also speculated to be involved in hacking attacks on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Nikulin could face up to 30 years in prison and a high fine if convicted in the US. Russia reacted to the US' extradition request with its own appeal for Czech administration to return Nikulin to his homeland, in order to face an alleged minor offence committed in 2009. Nikulin himself opposes the extradition to the US, nevertheless, should Minister Pelikan decide in favour of Russia, the Czech-American diplomatic relations could be damaged again. The US already criticised Czech officials, including Pelikan, for an arranged extradition of Ali Fayyad (accused of cooperating with terrorist groups) to Lebanon in 2016 in exchange for falsely-kidnapped Czech citizens.